Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “We have more salt in stock or on order than ever before, additional gritters and specialist ­equipment, new weather stations and cameras, and improved ­communications.”

The Met Office also issued warnings of severe weather including heavy snows yesterday for Wales, south, west and north England.

The RAC said they expect up to 56,000 ­breakdowns and chaos on the roads.

A spokesman said: “In the event of heavy snow, the RAC is urging motorists to avoid all non-essential journeys.”

Network Rail plan to run trains through the next few nights to stop tracks from freezing over and treat electric rails with anti-freeze.